Both Sides Now

Both Sides, Now is a community engagement project that uses art and public dialogues to create awareness, encourage reflection and provoke end-of-life conversations among healthcare professionals, caregivers and the public at large. It was initiated in Nov 2013 and has had several runs since then.

What are our options if we want to die with dignity? How do we plan for our end, regardless of age? How do we talk to our loved ones about our values and choices at the end of life? For more than six years, Both Sides, Now has been exploring answers to these tough questions through public dialogue and art – be in through interactive artworks in HDB void decks, short films, puppetry or even outdoor forum theatre. The main aim? To foster healthy dialogues about death and dying so as to build informed, supportive and resilient communities. The project creates safe spaces where people people from all walks of life can immerse themselves in art and then openly articulate their hopes and fears about living and dying. The first run was at the Khoo Teck Puat Hospital in 2013. In 2014, the Foundation, together with creative collaborators ArtsWok and Drama Box, ventured into Khatib and Toa Payoh where we reached out to the community in public spaces such as HDB void decks. From 2014 to 2016 we also reached out to 50 senior centres across Singapore staging puppetry shows and facilitating end-of-life conversations among seniors. The latest phase of the project is based in Chong Pang and Telok Blangah and involves engaging the public in these two communities in a deeper and more long-term manner through arts workshops and performances as well as by building up a core of community volunteers who act as advocates for what it means to “live well and leave well”.